


According to Webster's (2nd ed.)

by hardboiledbaby



Category: Nero Wolfe - Stout
Genre: M/M, Plot What Plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-07
Updated: 2010-01-07
Packaged: 2017-10-05 22:32:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/46712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hardboiledbaby/pseuds/hardboiledbaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Archie learns a new word.</p>
            </blockquote>





	According to Webster's (2nd ed.)

"By the way, I looked it up, you know," I said casually. I was leaning my hip up against the table, and I let my hand slide sideways until it was right next to the _Cattleya_ he was working on. He pretended not to notice. I waited. Ten seconds, fifteen...

"Looked up what?" he finally asked, with just the right hint of idle curiosity in his voice.

"The word 'frottage.' I looked it up in the dictionary." I raised my hand, palm up, fingers curled in, and examined my fingernails carefully. I could see him watching me out of the corner of his eye, but it was my turn to play dumb. I angled my hand this way and that as I went on, "When you said I showed admirable skill, I had to make sure you--"

A crash startled us, and we turned towards the sound. Theodore stood frozen in the doorway, an empty flowerpot in pieces at his feet.

The wreckage seemed to surprise him, as well. He crouched awkwardly to pick up the scattered shards.

"Theodore, are you all right?" Wolfe asked.

"Yes, sir," he answered tersely, without looking up. He gathered up the broken pottery and straightened up, his face red. He threw them unceremoniously into the trash and, without another word, headed back out the door.

"Damn," I said, after a moment. "I thought he left already. I didn't think he was coming back upstairs." Wolfe shrugged, his shoulders lifting a quarter of an inch, then lowering. "Don't you care?"

"No," he replied, then added, "Somehow, after all this time, I didn't think he'd be taken aback. Why, are you worried?"

"About Theodore?" I snorted. "Hardly. But you've mollycoddled him so much, he thinks he's the apple of your eye. It must come as a big shock to him to find out that maybe he's not the teacher's pet."

He laughed out loud then, a rare enough thing that I was glad that there was only me and the orchids to hear him. Then, I worked on practicing some of the skills he'd admired. After all, there's always room for improvement.


End file.
